What are the requirements to run Linux?

__________________
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

Nothing much... you could even run it on a 386 PC with only 4 MB but this means you'll be running it like DOS i.e. text mode!

Any Pentium class would do, with 32 MB. But my own experience with a Pentium 150 / 32 MB was that X Windows / Gnome was excruciatingly slow.

If you have a decent PC with an EMPTY HDD partition bigger than 2 GB, go ahead install Linux in it and you can set up (Linux's) LILO to dual boot (maintaining your present main OS e.g. Windows on drive C. After a few trials and errors, it becomes extremely easy.

__________________
J de Silva
Learning Journal | GIDForums™ | GIDNetwork™ | GIDWebhosts™ | GIDSearch™

Yup, what J said, but mind "few trials and errors" are the truth. Be careful about the Windows partition, back up anything important in case it's lost.

It is worth the effort though, Linux is great fun to use & learn. You really find out how a computer works, Windows keeps so much detail from you.

GF

Thanks for the help and I'm sure I'll have more. I'm going to put it on a box of its own. I was just wounder what hardware I would need to do that. and if I'm not mistaken isn't I think its call red Hat free?

__________________
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

Red Hat is free-ish, you can download the entire OS from it's site in ISO format & burn it to installation disks for nothing.

Or you can pay to buy it pre-burned in a pretty box with a nice manual & 14 day support!

As that sleazy guy off Blind Date used to say, "The choice is yours!"

GF

Yes, loading it on a machine by itself is the safest.

The danger about Linux is that once you're into it, you can't live with it and at the same time, you can't live without it!

I find it extremely fascinating and tiring at the same time... I suppose it's because, one has a LOT to learn (and unlearn). Allowee was right, the main hurdle to getting along with Linux is to unthink Windows before anything else.

A word of caution: once you put a CD into the CDROM, Linux is not going to let you have it back midway, no way! I wish now that someone had told me this before...

__________________
J de Silva
Learning Journal | GIDForums™ | GIDNetwork™ | GIDWebhosts™ | GIDSearch™

I would like to learn Linux and I'm going to play with and see what happens but the first thing I know I was going to do was put it on its own PC. My Windows PCs are for my games and my server. So I wasn't about to use these just in case something go worng I have nothing to worry about.

__________________
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

If I could put in my 2 cents.

Most people associate linux with Redhat. Redhat is a fine distribution and is by far the most popular. But there are hundreds of distributions out there and you may want to research it a bit to see which is best for you. If you are installing for the first time, you will have this luxury. Whereas, if you have used a distribution for years and it works for you there is no need to change midstream.

A couple of things you may want to investigate:
Knoppix - I have never used this, but from what I understand, it is a distribution that runs off of a CD. IE, you can try linux without installing.

Gentoo - I have never used this either. But if you want to go hardcore and get the distrubution that fits your need, look into this. It is more advanced though, because it allows you to create the distribution from scratch.

Slackware - Okay, this is what I use religiously. It was one of the first and in my opinion (for what I do) it is still the best. It probably follows unix standards tighter than any other distribution. It is currently at version 9.1 and can run on virtually anything. Once again, this is a little advanced as you can select the packages that you want to run. If anyone is interested in trying this, I would be happy to assist if you have installation dificulties. You can find this here

For my next Linux, I thought I am going to try Debian. What do you know about it? For a newbie like me, Debian or Slackware?

__________________
J de Silva
Learning Journal | GIDForums™ | GIDNetwork™ | GIDWebhosts™ | GIDSearch™

Slackware was the first Linux distro I even installed...back in '97. It is probably not as "slick" in some aspects as RedHat but should work well for you. I'm sure its been through a few transformations but it was for a long time known as a "power user" distro.

My last Linux installation was RedHat 7 (I tried a few others without much luck) as it was the only one I could get working on my Alpha.

__________________
Web Hosting Tips | Career Advice